3V heat treat tweaks, edge durability demonstration Media
Published: 9 years ago
The purpose of this video is to publicize some advancements I've made in the heat treat of CPM 3V. It has always been a very tough steel with good wear resistance, and with some tweaks it can develop good fine edge stability as well. However I am now applying this material to a high performance chopper, so I am developing a heat treat for it that is optimized for edge stability in rough use specific to a large high-impact blade. This is some of that development work.
As my development progressed it got to the point that the edge angle I had standardized on for testing, 20 degrees per side, was no longer showing significant deterioration from certain standardized rough use procedures so I decided to set all my test samples and the test standards back to 18 DPS and re-run some of the tests. This video documents a small part of this that some folks might find interesting.
My tests of this nature always involve works in progress and iterative samples, but it also includes certain "best in class" industry standards that embody certain attributes I'm evaluating. In this case a Busse in INFI has been a test standard, through the duration, for gross toughness. INFI and 3V are different animals, but they're both on the "very tough steel" end of the knife spectrum, with 3V holding an edge better in abrasive materials such as cardboard, rope, hide and dirty vegetation, and INFI being both tougher and holding a better edge in rough impacts and general abuse. Both show good edge retention and phenomenal toughness at relatively high hardness, one is not necessarily better than the other. But, for me, the outcome of this particular test was significant because 3V performed as well or better than INFI in a nail chop, which is unexpected.
CPM 3V is a commercially available high performance particle metallurgy "super steel" originally designed for difficult applications in the tool and die industry. This video demonstrates that the "industry standard" heat treat for this material leaves a lot of performance "on-the-table" in a cutlery application, and with some work it is possible to achieve higher levels of toughness, edge retention and edge stability.
As my development progressed it got to the point that the edge angle I had standardized on for testing, 20 degrees per side, was no longer showing significant deterioration from certain standardized rough use procedures so I decided to set all my test samples and the test standards back to 18 DPS and re-run some of the tests. This video documents a small part of this that some folks might find interesting.
My tests of this nature always involve works in progress and iterative samples, but it also includes certain "best in class" industry standards that embody certain attributes I'm evaluating. In this case a Busse in INFI has been a test standard, through the duration, for gross toughness. INFI and 3V are different animals, but they're both on the "very tough steel" end of the knife spectrum, with 3V holding an edge better in abrasive materials such as cardboard, rope, hide and dirty vegetation, and INFI being both tougher and holding a better edge in rough impacts and general abuse. Both show good edge retention and phenomenal toughness at relatively high hardness, one is not necessarily better than the other. But, for me, the outcome of this particular test was significant because 3V performed as well or better than INFI in a nail chop, which is unexpected.
CPM 3V is a commercially available high performance particle metallurgy "super steel" originally designed for difficult applications in the tool and die industry. This video demonstrates that the "industry standard" heat treat for this material leaves a lot of performance "on-the-table" in a cutlery application, and with some work it is possible to achieve higher levels of toughness, edge retention and edge stability.